After you’ve worked hard to put your product or program together, and spent the time and effort to write a compelling sales page for it, you don’t want to lose your potential customer or client right at the moment they are sitting there with credit card in hand – at the order link or order form.
Here’s a checklist of 6 ways to make sure that doesn’t happen:
__1. Reaffirm the decision
At the top of your order form, add a box that gives a synopsis of all the benefits your buyer gets for their purchase. List the features, the bonuses, and the guarantee. And tell them again that they’ve made the right decision.
There’s another benefit to adding this ‘here’s what you get in a nutshell’ box at the top of your order form. If your buyer is like me, they may skip through a sales page and go right to the order link to see the price. If the price isn’t right there, they will likely click on the order link to be taken to your order form to find out how much your offering is.
Now, most of us don’t buy solely based on price, so in order to increase your chances of making the sale to someone like me, giving me the snapshot version helps me make the choice to indeed buy. (Your current clients and customers will thank you for this, too, since they already know they want to buy, and they just want the digest version of what they’re getting.)
__2. Add a short testimonial
Give your buyer one more head-nod that they are making the right decision by adding a brief testimonial on the order form. Even just one sentence from a happy customer can make a difference in whether or not your reader enters their payment information.
__3. Give alternative payment options
Some people still don’t like to give their credit card information online, so be sure to give them other ways to order. For example, allow them to order by phone or fax, and give that information right on the order form.
__4. Make it Confidential and 100% secure
Be sure to explain that your ordering and payment system is safe for them to make a purchase. And of course, make sure it is!
__5. Follow-up with a confirmation email
Assure your buyer that their order was successfully placed and that it’s not lost in cyberspace. Congratulate them again for their investment and tell them exactly what to expect next.
__6. Respond promptly to questions or issues
No matter how easy you’ve made the buying process, some people will still have questions or get stuck due to technical glitches. Add an email address and/or phone number where they can reach you right away for help.
As much as you can, make the process of buying from you as easy and painless as possible. Take your prospect by the hand and walk them through each step, reassuring them along the way, and I guarantee you’ll make more sales AND create a deeper level of customer trust and loyalty.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this – please leave your comments below.
Creating supportive environments is imperative to your success as an entrepreneur. It goes without saying that if you have environments that will support you and your passion, it’s going to be much easier and more enjoyable for you to do your work. In Part 2 of this series, I’m going to touch upon a few more of the environments that I believe are most essential to your success and well being.
Let me ask you something. Are you like me and by about mid-February, you’ve had it with the gray day after day? Not feeling sunlight for days at a time really affects my mood and my motivation levels. And sometimes, when you work at home, it’s easy not to go outside for days at a time. I try to make any effort to spend at least 15 minutes outside, soaking up some sun. What about natural light in your work space? Windows? Clean and fresh air? Are these things part of your everyday creative environment, as they should be?
Exercise 5:
If you aren’t getting enough natural light, fresh air, and can’t see the outside world, you are stunting your creative flow. If there is anything you can do to change or improve your natural environment in this way, I encourage you to do it now.
Your energy field is one of your most important environments. It doesn’t only include your own energy and the sources from which you get it, but it also includes the energy, positive or negative, that you get from your spouse, your friends, your children, your other family members, and your clients or customers.
Since our relationships are so important to us, it is very difficult sometimes to set appropriate boundaries, and we tend to tolerate behaviors and actions that are detrimental to our own well being. In order for you to be as successful as you want to be (remember that everyone’s definition of success is different), you need to take a hard look at the relationships that are not nurturing you, that are sending negative vibes into your energy field, and recognize that you are allowing it. And then you need to make adjustments.
You will either need to set clear and solid boundaries, or you will need to let go, as hard as that may be. I found I had to do this with a few very old friends several years ago. As much as we share a history that I treasure, when I was making some major transitions in my life, the only “support” they could give me was to remind me how miserable it all was, even when I had moved through the misery of it and had created a new and happy life for myself. They just wanted to stay stuck in the misery of it, and you know why…because they were miserable! It was hard, especially because we had a lot of mutual friends, but I have never regretted that decision. And you know what happened? Several new amazingly wonderful supportive friendships showed up in my life soon afterwards.
Cutting ties with old friends is hard, but dealing with not-so-supportive family members is even more difficult. My favorite tactic is to not react to anything they say or do, to just simply respond. It is very hard to not be attached to the feelings that a family member can arise in you (guilt, worthlessness, stupidity), but at some point you have to take back your power and not allow them to make you feel that way anymore. Their issues are their issues and you need to let them own that – don’t carry it for them.
I have found that when I am able to respond instead of react, they tend to give up and move on much faster. And each time I do this, I get better at it, and they get the message more and more clear. And suddenly I have found them on my side, being a cheerleader for my work and my life. Believe me that it is worth it to stand up for yourself with grace.
As for dealing with clients or customers who drain your energy, your best bet is to create an Ideal Client Profile and stick judiciously to it. The ICP is not a new concept, by any means, but it is one of the best ways to create an environment around your work that is full of supportive and wonderful people who love what you do and who make you want to do more for them because of it.
Exercise 6:
Choose one person, if needed, in both your personal and professional life to whom you either need to let go of, or set some clear boundaries with, and get to work.
You’ll find that your inner environment will improve as you make positive changes to your outer environment. In addition, making space in your mind for your creativity to flow is important for you to be able to bring your best self into the world.
One of the ways to do this is to invest a bit of time each day into writing what Julia Cameron calls “Morning Pages,” which is three pages of free writing at the beginning of each day to clear your mind of some of the unnecessary clutter. Sometimes what you write will seem trivial, but it’s that trivial stuff that takes up much needed space in your head! Other times you’ll enjoy some real breakthroughs. I highly recommend engaging in this practice. I have been journaling all my life, but the practice of Morning Pages really does help the creativity flow – besides that I believe that every life that is worth living is worth recording.
Exercise 7:
Your assignment then is to purchase a journal or notebook, or create a new file on your computer, and start tomorrow writing three pages of whatever comes to mind. Make this a daily practice and watch what happens.
Making an effort over time to create supportive environments for the things that are most important to you will open doors and opportunities that you might never have received otherwise. You deserve to be supported in your work and your life, so choosing to allow those people and things into it that bring out your best is not only a gift to yourself, but also a gift to the world.
I’d love to know your thoughts on creating environments that support you – please leave your comments below.
One of the most effective ways of getting people to discover and try your products or services is by offering a Free Taste – which is just that, a taste of what it is that you offer.
Free Tastes come in many forms: an ezine, an ecourse, an audio program, a special report, etc., and they are obviously free. It’s a tried and true marketing strategy that if you offer someone a free taste of what it is that you do, they are much more likely to become a paying client or customer down the road.
Once you’ve created your Free Taste, the next step is to market it to encourage people to sign up for your list. The following are 15 proven ways to promote your Free Taste:
__1. Your email signature
In your email signature (your name and contact info that you put at the bottom of every email you send out), include a link that goes directly to the sign-up page for your Free Taste or to its respective autoresponder. Entice people to click through with a compelling question, followed by the link.
__2. Your website
Make sure your sign-up form for your Free Taste is prominently placed on the home page of your website, as well as on every other page of your site. This way, no matter what page your visitor lands on, you’re giving them an opportunity to opt-in to receive your Free Taste.
__3. Other people’s ezines
Ask to be mentioned and recommended in other people’s ezines within your niche. Offer to do the same in return.
__4. Other people’s websites
Offer your Free Taste as a bonus to colleagues’ in complementary niches to offer to their lists.
__5. Testimonials you write
Write results-oriented testimonials for products or services you use and love. Give permission to the owner to post your testimonial to their website, including the URL to sign up for your Free Taste.
__6. Articles
Write and submit articles within your niche. In the author’s resource box at the end, promote your Free Taste by including the URL to your sign-up page or the email link to your autoresponder.
__7. Discussion lists
Participate in discussion lists where your target market hangs out and offer your Free Taste, following the list’s guidelines for promotions.
__8. Thank you pages
On your thank you pages for purchases, offer your Free Taste. Your customer may not have signed up before buying your product or service and you want to give them an opportunity to do so before they leave your website.
__9. Your sales copy
Peppered throughout your sales copy, give the opt-in form to sign up for your Free Taste. Most people don’t buy on the first pass, but they will likely sign up for your free offering.
__10. Your business card
On the back of your business card, tell people where to go to sign-up for your Free Taste.
__11. Teleseminars
Offer content-rich free teleseminars and make it clear that your desired outcome is to have the registered guests sign up for your Free Taste, not to sell them anything.
__12. Directories
List your Free Taste in the directories that are available to you via your membership in associations or organizations, and any directories specific to the packaging of your Free Taste.
__13. Swap ads with others
Offer to promote a colleagues’ Free Taste in return for promoting yours as ads within each other’s ezines. Run your ad for a minimum of three consecutive issues for the best results.
__14. Tell everyone
Don’t forget to tell everyone on your contact list about your Free Taste. Send them the link to your sign-up page, and ask that if they cannot benefit from it themselves to please pass it along to someone who would.
__15. Offer a free bonus
Offer a bonus or gift as an added incentive to sign-up for your Free Taste. A special report, an audio program, or something similar that is in a different form than your Free Taste. For example, I offer my ezine as a bonus for signing up for my free audio interview.
Remember: Never add anyone to your list without their permission.
These 15 tactics will help you promote your Free Taste and add significantly to your list numbers. Just implement them consistently, and you will grow an audience quickly and easily.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this – please leave your comments below.
I think if you’ve been a survivor of any sort, you can relate to Scarlett O’Hara from Gone with the Wind. Sure, she used her womanly wiles to get what she wanted, but hey… who hasn’t? (And men, you’ve got ‘wiles’ of your own, so don’t think you’re off the hook.)
When Scarlett tore down her mother’s green velvet drapes to make the dress that ultimately saved Tara from the tax collectors, it was ‘necessity is the mother of invention’ in action. It’s sheer ingenuity to look at those curtains, one of the only things left by the Yankees, and see a fancy dress that could be the solution to her problem.
Scarlett was smart, savvy and had the spitfire spirit of her successful entrepreneurial-minded immigrant father. Over and over, Scarlett relies on her wits to maneuver her way out of predicament after predicament. And maybe some of her actions weren’t those of a lady playing nice (like marrying her sister’s beau) – but to her, the end result always justified her behavior. She took care of herself and her ‘folk’ with no apologies – and she made riches from it.
So, how does Scarlett’s smart and savvy personality relate to your business?
Your biggest client decides to quit working with you, for no apparent reason, leaving you with a huge income hole to fill. Your shopping cart bills your customers three times for a single purchase. Your virtual assistant decides to fly off for a spur-of-the-moment week away, leaving you with hours of admin nightmare to deal with.
There isn’t a business owner around who hasn’t been surprised by these or similar challenges once they’ve been in business for awhile.
Yes, it would be nice to be prepared for all of our worst-case-scenarios with back-up procedures and the like, but please… especially if you’re the creative/idea type – who’s going to deal with all that detail for the ‘just in cases’? Not me…
When Scarlett turned that green velvet from drapery to dress, my heroine didn’t know she was carrying out a perfect example of exactly how to zig-zag your way very quickly from problem to solution:
Here’s how:
1. She stayed focused
Scarlett didn’t let herself get all spun up about only having one dirty dress to wear, picking cotton herself, or having no food to eat during the war that was going on around her. What she did was stay focused on the task at hand: saving Tara.
All the decisions she made and actions she took came from focusing on that single goal.
2. She quickly shifted priorities when necessary
Scarlett’s mantra of “I can’t think about that now. I’ll think about it tomorrow” kept her focused and on task, and allowed her to shift her priorities when necessary.
3. She was willing to fail quickly
Scarlett made a decision and took action. If things didn’t work out the way she wanted them to, she took stock, made another decision quickly, and took action again. By being willing to fail quickly, instead of trying to figure out and manage all the potential pitfalls beforehand, she was able to rebuild her life on her terms much more quickly.
4. She was open to receiving
So maybe marrying two gentlemen she wasn’t in love with for all the wrong reasons doesn’t speak well of her heart, but Scarlett saw both marriages as a solution to a current predicament.
She wanted to stay close to Ashley Wilkes so she married his brother-in-law. She wanted $300 to pay the taxes on Tara to keep it, so she married her sister’s beau to get it. She wanted the store and mill to make more money, so she did business with those who were willing and able to pay, even if it was with the Yankees and carpetbaggers.
5. She didn’t let anyone stop her
Whenever Mammy protested Scarlett’s plans, Scarlett persisted. When her sisters protested her behavior with her gentleman callers, she persisted. When she wanted to hire convicts as laborers for the mill, and both the men in her life told her it was wrong, she did it anyway.
If you know that a solution you’ve figured out is right for you, don’t let anyone talk you out of it. Even if it doesn’t work out, at least you know you stuck to your guns and your integrity to yourself is intact.
And lest you think I’m blind to some of the deeper layers of Miss Scarlett, let me assure you that no one is more satisfied than I when Rhett tells her, “Frankly, my darling, I don’t give a damn.”
And yet you can’t argue with her results.
As we head into the season of giving, now is a great time to show appreciation to your clients and customers. Taking the time to give thanks to your clients will set you apart, increase loyalty, improve retention, inspire more sales, and deepen relationships that last long after the initial sale.
Here are 10 easy ways you can say thank you to your clients:
1. Greeting Cards
My husband often teases me that I should own stock in Hallmark for the amount of money I spend a year on cards. I love to send cards, for a specific reason or for no reason at all.
For business, you’ve probably heard of SendOutCards (and no, I’m not an affiliate or a distributor). I get a lot of cards this way and it helps to deepen the relationship for me. And it’s a super-easy way for you to do that with your customers too.
2. Personal Notes
I love to send personal notes too. I have specially designed notecards that I send when I just want to connect with someone after a particularly powerful coaching call, when someone makes an investment in Platinum, when I’ve made a special connection with someone in person, or when a client just needs a little cheer.
3. Invitations
One of the things you can do for your top clients is to invite them to a special event just for them. It can be a lunch or dinner at an event you’ll all be at, or carve out a portion of your own live event to spend time just with them.
You can also invite them to special teleseminar or webinar where you offer them free content just for being your top clients.
4. Small Gifts
Flowers, books, a mug, or something more specific are all thoughtful gifts for clients. They can be sent for certain occasions or just because (that’s actually my favorite way to send a gift).
5. Gift Cards
These days you can get gift cards for almost any product or service. Some companies, like Starbucks, offer having your logo or business name imprinted on them. Other ideas besides coffee include restaurants, movies, bookstores, office supplies and online vendors like Amazon.
6. Referral and Affiliate Rewards
Even if your referral or affiliate programs offer a commission on each referral, sending a personalized note along with it will go further in encouraging your network to continue to promote your offers into the future.
7. Reverse Referrals
Whenever appropriate, refer your clients and customers to others whom they will benefit from. Making this a part of the way you run your business will come back to you ten-fold as it shows the Universe your belief in abundance.
8. Customer Appreciation Days
Pick one day a year to designate as a Customer Appreciation Day to celebrate your clients. Make a special offer only to them and make a lasting impression.
9. Host Events
Host a gathering at the next event where your clients and customers are likely to gather. A Tweetup is a popular way to connect with both current and prospective clients and they are super-simple to set up and cost you nothing but a bit of time. You can also hold a virtual event anytime you want to bring your clients and customers together.
10. Life Events
Weddings, baby showers, major moves, book contracts, big speaking gigs, TV spots, or any other major event warrants an acknowledgment. A nice card or personal note, or even a quick phone call, will make you memorable for sure.
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